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Identify film negatives IN


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How did you come by this?

I have this negative from my family's collection of negatives from taking pictures on film before the digital era. It's 35mm color. It's probably newer than 1992. Other than that I don't have much other info about this particular roll of film. I googled for a few hours before posting this so this is something that maybe someone with developing experience would know.

 

HTH

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Not likely to be Ferrania. I'm pretty sure Ferrania stopped making film way back, after the brand name was bought by Scotch 3M and shelved. The firm trading as Ferrania today seems to have no connection with the original company.

 

Konica or Polaroid might be other options. But does it really matter?

 

Scanner/printing profiles are only approximate, and minilab processing variations could easily outweigh film type profiling.

 

FWIW, the 100 D almost certainly signifies a 100 ISO daylight-balanced film, and the orange spots between sprocket holes might well be a better clue to its origin than anything else.

Edited by rodeo_joe|1
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Not likely to be Ferrania. I'm pretty sure Ferrania stopped making film way back, after the brand name was bought by Scotch 3M and shelved. The firm trading as Ferrania today seems to have no connection with the original company.

 

Konica or Polaroid might be other options. But does it really matter?

 

Scanner/printing profiles are only approximate, and minilab processing variations could easily outweigh film type profiling.

 

FWIW, the 100 D almost certainly signifies a 100 ISO daylight-balanced film, and the orange spots between sprocket holes might well be a better clue to its origin than anything else.

Trying to sort for scanning and don't want to constantly have to switch profiles.

I'm using silver fast ai and a optiplex 8200 to scan if that matters

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Visually match the unexposed - edge - mask colour and density with other films you have to scan. If there's no close match then the film profiles won't be similar.

Ok please explain this. I'm a newbie and have no idea what any of that means except for visually inspect. I'm comparing the film to each other to get a close match ok fine but what is edge mask color? Is that the color of the negative that is not part of the picture how to I visually inspect for density?

TIA

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"Is that the color of the negative that is not part of the picture"

- Yes

 

"... how to I visually inspect for density?"

- I.e. not lighter or darker and the exact same colour as the edges of other (known) film that you have to scan. Use daylight to check for a good match against a sheet of white paper.

 

The orange mask density and colour is strongly related to the specific dye types used in the negative. Different makes and types of film will show a different mask. So, match the mask and you pretty much have the same film type. Or at least close enough that the same scan profile should get you very close to a decent result.

 

That's assuming both films have been equally and correctly processed. Not a given with some lax minilab process control protocols and use of off-brand chemicals.

Edited by rodeo_joe|1
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The orange spots between sprockets may be pre-exposed mid-grey patches for reference. If so they can be used to help manually balance the colour for that particular film.

 

Manually tweaking colour neg scans isn't too difficult, and reliance on preset profiles usually results in sub-optimal colour balance, tone curve and saturation.

 

I'd also investigate Vuescan as an alternative to Silverfast. I'm no great fan of Silverfast, which I found inflexible and gave quite poor results.

Edited by rodeo_joe|1
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I'd also investigate Vuescan as an alternative to Silverfast. I'm no great fan of Silverfast, which I found inflexible and gave quite poor results.

I'm the opposite. I find the everything to all scanners Vuescan to be mediocre and Silverfast AI superior but will take Vuescan over Silverfase SE.

 

Good scanning is an art and like good photography takes practice. Take a good negative and make an auto reference scan of 600 to 1200 dpi. Turn the auto off and adjust 1 control only 10% and make a scan, compare to the original. Change that control another 10% and repeat the scan/compare. Reset it to the starting point then repeat for the next control. Once each control has been used start with 5% changes using 2 controls the 3 controls. This may take 12 to 18 hours to complete but when finished it will take very little time to adjust for a unknown film.

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